William I. Thomas to Jane Addams, December 12, 1911

December 12, 1911

My dear Miss Addams:

I have been intending to write you a little more fully on the question you raised at the suffrage meeting. I do not know Forel's statement, but I presume it refers to public prostitution.  You are safe in saying this is connected with more advanced societies, where the girl is more easily lost sight of, and is economically more dependent, but it is not true that it is never found among [savages]. There was a prostitute class in Melanesia, among the Omahas in America, in old Peru, and the practice is somewhat widespread among the African negroes.  See, for instance, Westermarck, "Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas," vol II, page 440 ff.